From midnight to the early morning hours 1am to 3am lights dance across the sky. Created by the clashing of changing temperature an amazing spectacle and light show appears brighter every 5 years.Within the northern range of the Yellowknife, Churchill Manitoba and across the arctic region northern lights dance across the midnight sky.

 

One of the goals of photographers is to capture these dancing lights with bright in focus stars. It’s all about patience and having a slow shutter speed not to mention a bit of luck for having the ideal weather conditions. We would suggest taking a trip to photograph Northern Lights should be done sooner rather than later. It was recently reported Scientists are concerned with the change with the sun’s activities and as a result we may lose our opportunity to see these amazing dancing lights. Natures Photo Adventures offers a unique Polar Bear and Cubs Photography Workshop located in Churchill, Manitoba Canada every March, the best time of year for viewing and photographing the Aurora Borealis. Photographing wild bear cubs and northern lights, what more could you ask for?

 

The ideal conditions for photographing or viewing the Northern Lights is a dark night sky, a day just after a solar flare, a CME reading of 4.0 or above and strong winds. If there is a full moon or if it is cloudy chances are you might not see them. You will to have to wait for another clear night. Clothing: Be sure to dress for the sub-zero temperatures. Read Article Preparing for Winter Photography

PHOTOGRAPHIC INSRUCTIONS AND SETTINGS TO PHOTOGRAPH NORTHERN LIGHTS

 

WHEN to take these photographs is 1:00am until 3:00am or when you see the Northern Lights. They may appear bright for 10 minutes then disappear and reappear in another 30 minutes or one hour.Have a sturdy tripod and flashlight.

 

Be sure to dress for the cold climate as you might be standing out in sub- zero temperatures for a while. Bring extra batteries since they will not last as long in the cold weather and don’t forget extra memory cards.

 

LENS EQUIPMENT: Lenses with a low f stop capability, 1.4 to 2.8 range is good. Wide angle lenses, landscape lenses are ideal. Some interesting effects with a Fish-eye lens. However any lens will do. We want enough exposure time so we can focus something in the foreground while capturing the lights in the background.

 

LENS HOOD ON: Keeping the lens hood ON will help fight against the cold and frost building up on your lens.

 

CAMERA BODY: Any camera body with interchangeable lenses.

 

TRIPOD: Good quality, place on even ground. Little movement as possible. Be sure to stand still: The Aurora Lights will be moving across the sky, pick your target area. Moving your camera lens around to follow them will not result in a clear crisp image but rather a bunch of blurs. The lights will dance within your viewfinder, so a bit of patience is required.

 

CABLE RELEASE - REMOTE -OPTIONAL. Some cable release only allow for 30 second intervals. Plug in your cable release.  Your exposure will go as long as you hold the release button down.Focus on something very bright and clear. You can use a bright star in the sky or you can shine a light on a subject in the immediate with a flashlight –the minimum infinity point for your lens.

 

FOCUSING: This can be a challenge as your lens will need to be focused at infinity. You can choose to focus manually on a bright star in the sky or something else that you can shine light on to manually focus at infinity.

 

RAW MODE: Be sure to photograph in RAW mode. The camera will be able to capture more information. Converting from RAW to JPEG is not difficult with photo editing software.  Read how to convert RAW to JPEG article.

 

NOISE REDUCTION TURNED OFF: When shooting in RAW you do not require this feature. If you have Noise Reduction ON, it will slow down your ability to take more images because your camera has to process the information and reduce the noise after you have captured the image.

 

CAMERA MODE: Place your camera on Manual (M) mode.LENS SETTING: Move your lens setting to infinity ∞ . Be sure to take off your lens filter to avoid rings showing up on your photo.ISO – 400 to 800 the greater you increase the ISO will create more noise. Try to keep it as close to 400 as you can.

 

APERTURE F-STOP: F-Stop 1.4 or 2.8. –as low as possible

 

EXPOSURE SETTINGS: Place your Shutter Speed to minimum 1 second up to 30 seconds. At 8 seconds your camera should capture the swirls and patterns. If you slow down the shutter speed to over 30 seconds your stars will be blurry. Longer exposure means more blur. The amount of time will depend on the amount of ambient light available. PRESS THE SHUTTER RELEASE – Since you are on a slow shutter speed it will take longer to take the image.

 

CHECK YOUR HISTOGRAM: The handy Info button. If you reading is over to the left too far or too dark then you can add light by decreasing your shutter speed.

 

CREATE IINTEREST: Having a subject in the foreground creates a more interesting image. Try to capture some trees or a mountain in the foreground. Include something with some light a truck or tent as shown in the photo example. You can take multiple images and create an interesting image with using your photo editing software.

 

Remember not to try to track the moving light. Just pick your area of sky and wait for your chance. Enjoy the lights dancing across the sky and remember not to move your camera, remain as still as possible and then press your shutter release button to capture your unique Northern Light Piece of Art! .

 

Northern Light predictions, scientific data and historical trends can be viewed on www.spaceweather.com